ONE THAT ALMOST GOT AWAY
Final Edit
FRAGILE WORLD OF FROGS
Paternal Instincts
Doing his fatherly duty, a male Oreophrynefrog
in Papua New Guinea guards his clutch and two
newly hatched froglets that rest atop the egg mass.
Like many in the Microhylidae family, these frogs
bypass the tadpole stage, developing fully within
the egg. Each night the male Oreophryne embraces
his clutch, possibly to keep the eggs moist or to
protect them from small predators like insects. It's
a rarely seen behavior that photographer George
Grall was determined to capture. After more than
a week in remote rain forest, he got his chance. But
this frog was on the underside of a leaf high in the
air. So Grall slowly pulled down the branch and
taped it to another branch to get a close-up. "I did
it very carefully so I wouldn't disturb him," says
Grail. "He just held on."
You can send this picture as
an electronic greeting card
at nationalgeographic.com/
ngm/0105.
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC * MAY 2001
ULUHnctUNHALL